NO. 91-299 

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF MONTANA 

1992 

STATE OF MONTANA, 

Plaintiff and Respondent, 

-vsLANCE THOMAS SHANNON, 

Defendant and Appellant. 

APPEAL FROM: District Court of the Eighth Judicial District, 

In and for the county of Cascade, 

The Honorable Joel Roth, Judge presiding. 

COUNSEL OF RECORD: 

For Appellant: 

June Lord, Attorney at Law, Great Falls, Montana. 

For Respondent: 

Marc Racicot, Attorney General, Carol E. Schmidt, 

Assistant Attorney General, Helena, Montana 

Patrick L. Paul, Cascade County Attorney, Great 

Falls, Montana. 

Submitted on Briefs: December 19, 1991 

Decided: January 14, 1992 

Filed: 

Clerk 
Justice Karla M. Gray delivered the Opinion of the Court. 

The defendant, Lance Thomas Shannon, appeals from a Judgment 

of Conviction and Sentencing Order of the District Court for the 

Eighth Judicial District, Cascade County. We affirm. 

The sole issue on appeal is whether the District Court abused 

its discretion in denying Shannon's motion to withdraw a guilty 

plea. 

The defendant was charged with felony theft pursuant to § 45- 

6-301(l)(a), MCA, on March 16, 1990. On March 27, 1990, Shannon 

pled not guilty to the offense. Subsequently, a plea agreement was 

entered into in which Shannon agreed to plead guilty and the County 

Attorney agreed to recommend that Shannon receive a deferred 

sentence and pay restitution of monies. 

Following the plea agreement, but before sentencing, Shannon 

moved the court to withdraw his guilty plea on the basis of his 

discovery of evidence corroborating his innocence. The District 

Court heard oral arguments on Shannon's motion and, on February 26, 

1991, denied that motion. The defendant was sentenced on March 15, 

1991. 

The defendant was hired as a manager of the Wild Rose Casino 

in Great Falls in June of 1989. From about October 1, 1989, 

through January 20, 1990, Shannon wrote a series of eleven checks 

totalling over $2,000 on the casino's business account with himself 

as payee. The account ledger shows that the checks had been 

written to vendors. The owner of the casino eventually discovered 

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the discrepancies, and this action ensued. 

The defendant claimed that the checks written to himself were 

in recompense for repair work he had done for his employer's 

business. He sought to withdraw his guilty plea because he 

discovered that one of the vendors had receipts which would confirm 

this claim. 

The court concluded that the "new evidence" was not unknown to 

Shannon when he pled guilty in August of 1990. Further, the court 

determined that the evidence asserted as new by Shannon had no 

bearing on the defendant's testimony at the hearing which resulted 

in the entry of his guilty plea. 

Defendant contends that withdrawal of guilty plea can be 

premised upon some mistake or misapprehension and that he was under 

the misapprehension that no evidence existed to support his 

contentions. Therefore, he asserts that the court abused its 

discretion in denying his motion. 

It is true that certain mistakes or misapprehensions can 

provide an appropriate basis for withdrawal of a guilty plea. 

However, the District Court correctly determined that withdrawal of 

a plea premised on a mistake or misapprehension must relate to the 

consequences of the plea itself and not to an analysis of the 

evidence in the case. State v. Milinovich (Mont. 1991), 812 P.2d 

338, 48 St.Rep. 470. The court did not abuse its discretion in 

denying Shannon's motion to withdraw his guilty plea. 

Pursuant to Section I, Paragraph 3(c), Montana Supreme Court 

1988 Internal Operating Rules, this decision shall not be cited as 
precedent and shall be published by its filing as a public document 

with the Clerk of the Supreme Court and by a report of its result 

to Montana Law Week, State Reporter and West Publishing Company. 

Af f inned. 

We concur: 

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January 14, 1992 

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE 

I hereby certify that the following order was sent by United States mail, prepaid, to the 

following named: 

June Lord 

Attorney at Law 

600 Central Plaza, No. 400 

Great Falls, MT 59401 

Hon. Marc Racicot, Attorney General 

, Assistant Attorney General 

Justice Building 

Helena, MT 59620 

Patrick L. Paul, Cascade County Attorney 

J. Kim Schulke, Deputy County Attorney 

Cascade County Courthouse 

Great Falls, MT 59401 

ED SMITH 

CLERK OF THE SUPREME COURT 

STATE OF MONTANA 

B